pain
verb/peɪn/
/peɪn/
not used in the progressive tenses (formal)Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they pain | /peɪn/ /peɪn/ |
| he / she / it pains | /peɪnz/ /peɪnz/ |
| past simple pained | /peɪnd/ /peɪnd/ |
| past participle pained | /peɪnd/ /peɪnd/ |
| past simple paining | /ˈpeɪnɪŋ/ /ˈpeɪnɪŋ/ |
| past participle paining | /ˈpeɪnɪŋ/ /ˈpeɪnɪŋ/ |
- to cause somebody pain or make them unhappy synonym hurt
- pain somebody She was deeply pained by the accusation.
- (old use) The wound still pained him occasionally.
- it pains somebody to do something It pains me to see you like this.
- it pains somebody that… It pained him that she would not acknowledge him.
Homophones pain | panepain pane/peɪn//peɪn/- pain noun
- These pills should ease the pain.
- pain verb
- It did pain him to see his ex happily married.
- pane noun
- The burglars got in by breaking a pane of glass in a door.
Word OriginMiddle English (in the sense ‘suffering inflicted as punishment for an offence’): from Old French peine, from Latin poena ‘penalty’, later ‘pain’.Definitions on the go
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